I'm just curious, what sites do most people order off of? I've used gamefest.com for ~90% of my on-line purchases. Do people here feel that there is a significant different between sites when it comes to service and prices?

coolstuffinc.comAs you spend more money, you reach discount levels that apply to all future purchases. Also, they sell Magic: The Gathering cards, RPGs, and mins games (except Warhammer) in addition to boardgames.

I realize that what I'm about to say may only be relatively interesting to you because I live in Italy.I found that the average price of games+shipping tends to be almost constant.There are surprisingly few sites where bulk orders are really advantageous.I understand both French and German so I have access to many more marketplaces, but European shipping rates are nevertheless quite high.British imports are almost always out of the question because of the exchange rate of the pound, American ones because of the shipping rates and additional toll costs.

Having said that my advice to you would be to checkAmazon and EBay for advantageous deals (You may have access to thrift shops and yard sales witch would trump all but you did say online) and the Boardgamegeek marketplace and then concentrate on sites that offer good bulk purchase discounts

Your knowledge of scientific biological transmogrification is only outmatched by your zest for kung-fu treachery!

My brand loyalty goes to gamesurplus.com. Selection might be less than thoughthammer or boardsandbits but it is also where I was able to get hard to find games like Magnum Sal and Trajan once they hit NA.

I'm with Chapel. Whatever store has the game in stock with a good price. I check boardgameprices.com, but since a lot of the games I want are a little more obscure, I tend to follow a general order:

gamesurplus.com (The owner, Thor, is a great guy, and he gets the best imports that no other stores carry)funagain.comcoolstuffinc.comthoughthammer.comThe last 3 are a tossup. I've shopped at all 3 regularly and none of them have ever disappointed me. Since thoughthammer is only 90 miles from my house, and usually ships same-day, I order from them if I want to get something in a hurry.

If it's an older, harder to find game and I have to dig deep:trollandtoad.com (you have to watch these guys, sometimes they jack up their prices, their shipping is expensive, but sometimes you find great deals... especially if you watch their eBay store)ebay.comamazon.com (I usually only go this route if I can use my Prime free shipping, which is not as often as one would hope)

Coolstuffinc for the discount if I'm getting a lot of stuff to qualify for free shipping; but beware grouping with preorders. Otherwise I try to get games direct from the publisher if possible (GMT online store is very good).

I've actually picked up a number of items using Amazon, which is especially nice when it's something they stock themselves so you can get free shipping.

Honestly it's been a long time since I've bought anything significant from my FLGS - if it was a minor price difference that'd be one thing, but we're talking they quote stuff like $60 for Formula D which I can pick up anywhere else for $40. I'd be willing to pay a little extra for the convenience of getting it local, but not 30%+ more.

There must have been a moment at the beginning, where we could have said no. Somehow we missed it. Well, we'll know better next time.

lexifer wrote:

I'm just curious, what sites do most people order off of? I've used gamefest.com for ~90% of my on-line purchases. Do people here feel that there is a significant different between sites when it comes to service and prices?

I've used Boards & Bits, for all my major game purchase orders. They have a good selection, the website is EASY to use (personally, I find some of the other OLGS mentioned previously a nightmare to navigate/browse), and their prices are almost always the cheapest. Plus their packing and shipping quality/time is fabulous.

I've bought a single game here or there (if a game is heavily discounted somewhere or not in stock at B&B) but for large orders, they are hard to beat, IMO.

Was trying to buy something on BGG and changed my address to a friend's so that the package could be sent there and I'd pick it up when I visited him. Sadly the purchase didn't work out and I didn't both to change my address other than country

Here in Europe, there is no one store to rule them all. You shop around in different countries, factor in exchange rates (come on Sweden and the UK---join the Euro-club already!), and shipping. Lots of work, but it's fun.

Lately Boards & Bits consistently has the best prices for non-imports and accessories. They also tend to have a full inventory and reachable free shipping. You can usually find a better price elsewhere for imports. Packaging and shipping is top notch. They ship FedEx and always use a new box, styrofoam peanuts, and will add cardboard spacers between games for protection. You can also add games to an existing order that hasn't shipped yet through the website for a few cents extra and still get free shipping. I end up using B&B the most.

Miniature Market has not as much inventory, but what it does have sometimes beats B&B in price. Free shipping requirements are lower. They ship UPS, which isn't as good as FedEx by my experience. The packing is better than some, but not quite as good as B&B.

CoolStuffInc has an inventory somewhere between B&B and MM. But the prices typically aren't as good unless there is a sale. Sales are few and far between. Low free shipping requirements and good packaging practices give CoolStuff some points. The cumulative discount is helpful, but lately it has not been enough. If you sell Magic: The Gathering cards to CoolStuff you can get 20% more in store credit. Highly recommended if you are unwinding your MtG collection.

FairPlayGames has a decent inventory, reachable free shipping, and good packaging practices. Very similar to B&B from my experience. FairPlay is also the only place I know that has the entire Mayday Games sleeve catalog in stock and ready to ship at discount prices. Worth it to make an order here once in a while just to restock on sleeves.

Fun Again games. FLGS prices with the occasional sale you can't ignore. Very low free shipping, but almost never worth it. Terrible packaging practices. Reused boxes, cut down boxes, games packed with no padding against the box. I hesitate to use them.

Time Well Spent. Great support. He replies to inquiries on the weekend and during off hours. Great prices on imports. Price matching. Very good packaging practices. Free shipping is a little high to reach. Inventory isn't as deep. I can't recommend them enough though.

Amazon. Unless it's Christmas the prices are almost never competitive. The only good place I have found to buy HABA games in the US though. Amazon has packaging down to a science. Free shipping often means waiting much longer than other online stores unless you have Amazon Prime.

Troll and Toad. No free shipping usually. Prices can be near MSRP. But Troll and Toad's eBay store has free shipping and occasionally good prices. packaging and shipping practices are top notch.

Game Surplus. I have not bought from here, but I want to. The free shipping requirements are too difficult though. You have to buy from the free shipping list of games which are either overpriced or out of stock. The import selection and prices are very good though. Their packing material reuse claims make me a little nervous.

There must have been a moment at the beginning, where we could have said no. Somehow we missed it. Well, we'll know better next time.

alan581 wrote:

Fun Again games. FLGS prices with the occasional sale you can't ignore. Very low free shipping, but almost never worth it. Terrible packaging practices. Reused boxes, cut down boxes, games packed with no padding against the box. I hesitate to use them.

They also have the occasional used game (it's where their name came from after all). And they sometimes have NIS OOP games that are dirt cheap at check-out sales (I got a new Fist of Dragonstones for $10 right after it went OOP but they still wanted to liquidate their inventory I guess).

I'm just curious, what sites do most people order off of? I've used gamefest.com for ~90% of my on-line purchases. Do people here feel that there is a significant different between sites when it comes to service and prices?

Cheapest one but I rotate between CSI, Cardhaus, and Amazon. Cardhaus has beaten CSI for price a couple of times, but CSI had the preorder for Eclipse cheaper. Amazon can be a way to cut down on shipping due to having a Prime account.